When God is Set Aside - Judges 20-21

Judges 20-21

Copyright August 26, 2018 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

We get in trouble when we trust our judgment over that which is superior to our own. Think about the football player who trusts his judgment over that of the couch as to which play is best; the soldier who trusts his idea more than that of the commanding officer; the construction worker over that of the project manager; and even the student over the teacher. These are all cases when the person over us sees the big picture and we do not.

That is what happens in life when we think we know better than God does. This is when it can be said of us: "We have no King" and we do only what is right in our own eyes. Each one of these decisions we make moves us further and further away from the Lord and we get increasingly bold in our sin.

This is illustrated with flashing lights in Judges 19. We looked at the disturbing story last week. A Levite stopped in the town of Gibeah with his concubine. When the men came to the door to abuse the man, he tossed them his concubine. They attacked her all night. When the Levite came out the door in the morning she was laying there. He picked her up, put her on his donkey, and then when he arrived home he cut her up into twelve pieces and sent one piece to each tribe in Israel. This is where we pick up the story.

Judgment

I think it is safe to say if you opened a box from UPS and found a body part in it, you would take notice and want to find out what was going on. As a result of this action by the Levite, something happened that hasn't happened in the entire book of Judges: "Israel all joined together!"

Then all the Israelites were united as one man, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, including those from across the Jordan in the land of Gilead. The entire community assembled in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah. 2The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel—400,000 warriors armed with swords—took their positions in the assembly of the people of God. 3(Word soon reached the land of Benjamin that the other tribes had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites then asked how this terrible crime had happened.

The entire nation was in an uproar. They knew whatever prompted this drastic action must be horrible and a stain on Israel that must be dealt with. Israel's history is filled with stories of God coming in judgment because Israel allowed sin to remain in their midst. They had slipped a long way but even they recognized that what happened must have been horrible. They asked the Levite what happened and his answer shows that he knew how to revise history to make himself look good.

4The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin. 5That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead. 6So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime. 7Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”

These are not quite the facts as we read them in the last chapter. First, it was not the "leading citizens" of Gibeah who came to the house, it was a group of troublemakers. Second, though he may have feared for his life, they were coming for sex not for murder. And third, he leaves out the part of the story where he gave the mob his concubine while he went back in the house to finish eating and get a good night's sleep.

Let's make a quick application here: Proverbs 18:17 says, " The first to speak in court sounds right—until the cross-examination begins." In other words, every story sounds plausible until you check it out. This is why the Bible insists that every matter be established by two or more witnesses. People distort the truth. We all remember things in a way that puts us in the best possible light. Before you get your army together to go to war, it is a wise person who checks out the facts. Get the other side of the issue. Don't be guilty of ruining lives, friends, and reputations by repeating half-truths.

In Deuteronomy, the Lord told Israel that murder was a capital offense but no one was to be executed for murder unless it was established by more than one witness. The Bible also said punishment was to be appropriate: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. When mob action gets involved, that line is almost always crossed. That is true not just in war but in personal relationships as well. How often have family conflicts, marriage conflicts, and political conflicts, turned into battles that sought to destroy the other person?

The Battle

Israel decided they needed to act against Gibeah.

8And all the people rose to their feet in unison and declared, “None of us will return home! No, not even one of us! 9Instead, this is what we will do to Gibeah; we will draw lots to decide who will attack it. 10One tenth of the men from each tribe will be chosen to supply the warriors with food, and the rest of us will take revenge on Gibeah of Benjamin for this shameful thing they have done in Israel.” 11So all the Israelites were completely united, and they gathered together to attack the town.

Do you notice what is missing in the story? They do not ask God whether or not they should attack Gibeah. They impulsively come up with a plan and leave God out of the main decision. They ask God which tribe should go first but they don't ask whether any tribes should go to war without first seeking the Lord.

The leaders of Israel sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What a terrible thing has been done among you! 13Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.”

Put yourself in Benjamin's shoes. They heard (v. 3) that all Israel had gathered, and they didn't get an invitation. These are your relatives and they are being threatened. You may not even know what these men are talking about. They come at you aggressively with an ultimatum. How are you going to respond? Yep, that's how they responded too.

All the other people of the tribe of Benjamin gather in Gibeah for this civil war. The Benjamites were severely outnumbered but they had skilled warriors. We learn they had 700 left-handed soldiers who could hit a target with their sling with deadly accuracy.

The first day of battle the Benjamites killed 22,000 men. The Israelites and went back and asked the Lord whether they should fight again. He said "yes." That day another 18,000 experienced soldiers were killed.

This time the Israelites turn to the Lord and ask if they should give up the fight. God assured them He will give them victory. Why did the first two attempts go so poorly? One commentator suggests the Israelites weren't really asking for God's direction, they were asking Him to rubber-stamp the decision they had already made. So, God, in sense, told them what they wanted to hear. The third time they genuinely turn to Him and the outcome is different.

The next day the Israelites ambushed the soldiers of Benjamin. They killed 18,000 men and then chased down another 5000 men and then kept pursuing them until they killed another 2000 (25,000 in all)! Only 600 men from the tribe of Benjamin escaped because they went and lived up in the rocks and caves for four months.

Then we read,

48And the Israelites returned and slaughtered every living thing in all the towns—the people, the livestock, and everything they found. They also burned down all the towns they came to.(20:48)

This is an extreme overreaction by the Israelites! They were trying to wipe out the entire tribe of Benjamin and then in 21:3 they cry to the Lord, "Why did this happen?" It happened of course, because the vengeance of Israel was out of control! Instead of bringing the murderers to justice they killed 25,000 (add to that the 40,000 Israelites and you get 65,000 people plus all the people living in the towns). These soldiers were really no better than the men of Gibeah!

This is the way vengeance always works. It is not enough to get justice, we want to punish as well. We want to hurt the other person more than they hurt us because then they will know never to mess with us again! That is not justice, it is abuse!

The Problem of Benjamin

The story is not over. Israel, realizing they have almost extinguished an entire tribe of Israel, mourn. They are caught in a tough spot. They have vowed (to God) they would not give any of their daughters to the Benjamites. Since they have massacred all of the Benjamite women, the tribe cannot continue apart from going to the Canaanites and defiling themselves.

Instead of asking the Lord for help (will they/we never learn?), they look for a "loophole" in their oath. They checked their roster and realized no one from the city of Jabesh Gilead had joined them in battle. So, they were not present to make the vow. So they come up with a plan that is quite disturbing. They send a group of soldiers to kill everyone and everything in Jabesh Gilead except for the 400 virgins who they found there. These are their fellow Israelites! The only thing they did wrong was miss roll call. The secular mindset of the Israelites is disturbing. The depths of rationalization should shake us to the core.

There were 200 men that still didn't have wives, so they came up with yet another ridiculous plan,

Then they thought of the annual festival of the Lord held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. 20They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife! 22And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’(21:19-22)

This plan is nothing short of another rape! 200 young women are going to be treated like objects so a foolish oath can be technically kept. The elders here are, in principle, doing the same thing as the old man and the Levite! One woman was victimized and in response they victimized 600 more!

Lessons

For two weeks we have watched unspeakable things happen. What are we to learn?

The last verse of the book gives us the summarizes the story of Judges: In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.(21:25) The entire book reveals what happens when a nation forgets God.

People are treated as objects

Oaths are declared without thinking

Reckless and violent acts are justified as necessary deeds of justice

People act impulsively without ever taking the time to get all the facts

We see the evils in others but are blind to those same things in ourselves.

The saddest part of this whole study is the realization that this same kind of attitude permeates our own time. People want to do their own thing. When their "thing" conflicts with someone else's "thing" a battle takes place. Sometimes it's with words, sometimes it is with guns, and sometimes it is with attorneys.

Truth has become slippery. We interpret it differently depending on what we want it to mean at the moment. In a sense God is edited. We subject the Bible to revisionist interpretation whenever it suits us. We are forever looking for our own loopholes.

We are living at a time when

People feel the government owes them and parents should give their children whatever they want.

Interaction has been replaced with text messages, cell phones, and tablets. We are much more likely to be focused on a screen than on a person.

Words of correction, discipline, or disagreement of any kind is called emotional abuse, or, in the case of children, child abuse.

Waiting for anything is scorned. We charge up our credit cards, we have little if any sexual restraint, we have to have the newest device, and we can't sit still.

Any public declaration of our Christian faith is now called "hate speech" while other religions are taught openly in many schools in the hope of "enlightening people."

The book of Judges is describing the human condition apart from God. So, the preeminent question becomes: Is there anything we can do to stop the slide? One of the things we learn from our text today is: the schemes of men don't work; they only make the problem worse. The only way to stop the slide is to run to the Lord. The way to start is on our knees. We must seek the will of God and then follow it.

The first step to becoming right with God is to repent and seek His forgiveness. Only God can change a hardened heart. You can do any number of religious deeds but it won't change a hard heart. We must throw ourselves on the mercy of the court. This involves confessing our sin specifically and our heart nature of sin. Then we turn to Christ and ask Him to save us through His gracious death on the cross. The Bible tells us when we genuinely turn and depend on Christ we will be forgiven and our old nature will be replaced by new life in Christ.

Once we have done this we need to build our lives on the Word of God rather than the ideas of men. To do this we must become students of the Word. You can't follow what you do not know. Are you a Christian who has a dusty Bible? I encourage you to read the Word of God daily. Start in one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and get acquainted with Jesus. Look at the way He dealt with people. Listen to what He taught. Heed the warnings that He gives. Then, keep reading through the rest of the New Testament as beliefs become more defined. Then you can set out to read the entire Bible. The key is to listen to what you are reading (some people find it easier to actually read out loud for that reason). When you hear a command, apply it to your life. Read carefully and apply diligently. One of the best ways to learn about the Bible is through worship, Sunday School, youth groups and Bible Studies,

Third, we must learn to think critically. We live in a world that seems to feel: if the majority says something is right, it IS right. As believers, we need to test every doctrine. We must measure everything not by the latest polls but by the Word of God! The fact that everyone did what was right in their own eyes did not make it right!!! We must be relentless in probing our own beliefs, behaviors, and conclusions. We have to stop lying to ourselves before we will ever be able to recognize the lies and distortions around us. Here are some questions we should asking,

Am I making excuses for sinful behavior so I can feel justified in my sin?

Am I changing what the Word of God clearly says so I won't offend my family and friends?

Is there a true Biblical reason for the stance I am taking?

Am I reading the Bible through the eyes of my culture or am I reading my culture through the lens of Scripture?

Am I asking God to bless MY plans, or am I asking Him to help me obey HIS plans.

We must take responsibility for our own behaviors rather than blaming everything on other people. If we are lying to ourselves, we are also lying to God.

Fourth, we must pray for courage to stand on the Word of God. Sometimes, living the Christian life means standing alone. It means making decisions others will ridicule. Sometimes it means taking less than we deserve, or enduring abuse we do not deserve. It may cost us a promotion, a place on the team, or even a job. Sometimes it means forgiving because it is right, not because it is something we want to do. We need courage to believe God knows what He is doing and to follow His guidance. We need his strength to do what He tells us to do.

Finally, we need to remember that the grace of God is more enduring than the obstinacy of men. If we have learned anything from Judges, it should be that God does not give up. He may let us live with the consequences of our foolish decisions, but He will do so in the hope we will see the foolishness of our ways, and return to Him.

I hope you have seen yourself reflected in some of these stories in the book of Judges. I pray that you have caught a glimpse of just how far the human heart can drift from God. And thus, I hope this has galvanized your own pursuit of holiness; the way God wants us to live. Only radical action can help us resist selling out to our culture. We are either all in, or we too will slowly drift away in the current of compromise.